Workplace intervention programmes for decreasing alcohol use in military personnel: a systematic review

Harmful or risky-single occasion drinking (RSOD) alcohol use in the military is a significant problem. However, most studies of interventions have focused on veterans, representing a missed opportunity for intervention with active military personnel. Using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) framework, the aim of this systematic review was to analyse and synthesise the evidence related to workplace-based interventions for reducing alcohol use in active-duty military personnel.

Four electronic databases and reference lists of relevant articles were searched from database inception until 20 January 2020. This review focused on experimental and quasi-experimental studies of active-duty military personnel. Data extraction and methodological quality assessment were independently performed by two reviewers using a standardised checklist. A third reviewer was used to arbitrate the disputed studies for final selection.

The search yielded seven studies from an initial 1582 records identified. A range of interventions were used in these studies (four randomised controlled trials, two non-randomised trials and one before and after cohort study), including web-based approaches, telephone-delivered interventions and individual and group-based face-to-face interventions. Seven studies found decreased drinking, measured using a range of outcomes, following the intervention. However, this was not sustained in the longer term in any of the studies.

The low methodological rigour of most studies limited the capacity to demonstrate the efficacy of the interventions studied. Given the importance of reducing harmful or RSOD use of alcohol in the military, future studies would benefit from improved methodological rigour including ensuring adequate study power, randomisation, selection of validated outcome measures, including measures other than consumption (eg, attitudinal measures), and longer-term follow-up. There is also a need to develop methods that ensure participant loss to follow-up is minimised.